From being healthy, suddenly fell into a coma, owing hundreds of millions of dong due to chickenpox

(Dan Tri) - While healthy, the man had a continuous high fever, blisters all over his body and gradually became critical, requiring emergency treatment at two hospitals with huge medical bills.

On July 29, a representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases informed Dan Tri reporters that in recent days, doctors there have received and treated a case of very serious chickenpox complications.

The patient is Mr. P. (50 years old, living in Ho Chi Minh City). Medical history shows that Mr. P. was previously healthy, had no history of other underlying diseases and had never been vaccinated against chickenpox. Four days before being admitted to the hospital, the patient developed symptoms of continuous high fever, fatigue, poor appetite, and mild abdominal pain.

Three days later, the patient developed blisters all over his body and became more tired. At a local hospital, doctors diagnosed the patient with chickenpox and prescribed medication, but his condition did not improve.

Just one day after being admitted to the hospital, the man felt more tired and needed respiratory support. The lower-level hospital gave the patient antibiotics, intravenous medication, and urgently transferred Mr. P. to a higher-level hospital.

On July 19, the patient was admitted to the Emergency - Intensive Care - Anti-Poison Department for adults, Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases with a diagnosis of chickenpox with pneumonia complications. The patient quickly progressed to a coma, had to be put on a ventilator and used special medication for many days.

Man in critical condition due to severe chickenpox complications (Photo: NT).

Because many interventions had to be applied, after 10 days in the intensive care unit, Mr. P's hospital bills have reached nearly 100 million VND and are still not stopping.

"It is expected that the patient will need more than 3 weeks of treatment, with a cost of about 180 million VND, but the recovery prognosis is still quite cautious," informed a representative of the Social Work Department.

Doctors at the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases warn that many people think that chickenpox is not dangerous, but in fact there have been cases of severe complications. People with weakened immune systems, the elderly, cancer patients, pregnant women, etc. are at high risk of becoming seriously ill when infected with chickenpox.

Chickenpox is transmitted through blisters, which can be transmitted from the time they appear until they disappear. In the early days of the disease, the disease only shows symptoms of fever, without blisters appearing immediately, so people easily confuse it with rash fever or other common diseases and do not go to the doctor early.

A patient had to use ECMO and a series of measures to treat chickenpox complications, causing hospital bills to skyrocket (Photo: Hoang Le).

Therefore, doctors recommend that when people have high fever, rash, skin rash... they should go to the hospital for early examination to promptly detect the disease. In particular, do not be subjective because you are young and healthy and do not buy health insurance, because when the disease progresses seriously, the patient will have to spend a lot of money for treatment.

There have been cases of severe chickenpox progression, multiple organ failure, requiring long-term treatment and ECMO at the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases, causing hospital fees to increase to 300-400 million VND, pushing the patient and family into financial ruin.

When taking care of a family member with chickenpox, relatives must pay attention to cleaning the nose and throat, changing clothes, washing hands thoroughly, and protecting themselves carefully to avoid infection.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/suc-khoe/dang-khoe-manh-bong-hon-me-om-no-tram-trieu-dong-vi-mac-thuy-dau-20250729120543282.htm